There is conventionally known a hybrid vehicle having a power train system in which an engine, a first clutch, a motor and a second clutch are arranged in series from the drive source side to the drive wheel side (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
This conventional hybrid vehicle is configured to, at the start of the engine, transmit a torque of the motor to the engine, while allowing slippage of the first clutch as well as allowing slippage of the second clutch, whereby a torque variation caused by the start of the engine would not be transferred to the drive wheel side.
In this conventional hybrid vehicle, the upper limit of a drive torque is set based on a torque upper limit value of the motor; and the torque upper limit value of the motor during EV mode driving and the torque upper limit value of the motor during engine start are set independently of each other.